What I Have Seen in the Recent Years
by The TAG Pests
Summary: The view of what Polycarp has seen happen to a Jewish family. A garden gnome's plea to take action.


What I Have Seen in the Recent Years

By: The TAG Pest, Marty E. Williams

Dear Citizens of the World,

In the time that I have been living, I have seen a lot of injustice, and

most of it seems to have penetrated the Jews. As a gnome, I notice

things, and throughout my life, I have never seen worse years than the

years when Hitler reigned. The impression that one family left on me in

particular though, I will never forget.

Herr Schneider, Frau Schneider, and Friedrich Schneider. They were

happy and wealthy. They had riches, friends, and family. They lived in

an apartment above the Richter family, and the two families were

friends. Not just people who lived near each other, but the kind of

friends that would stand by each other through hard times, and for the

most part that was true. Even when the times got rough and nobody

wanted anything to do with Jews anymore, they stayed friends. When the

Schneider's house was ransacked, the Richters provided lamps for them so

they could see and help Frau Schneider better. They would sometimes

provide them some food, from what little that they had themselves. And

through all this, they stayed friends.

Hans Richter and Friedrich Schneider grew up together. They played

together, went to school together, and were the best of buds. But this

friendship was tested several times because of Friedrich's religion. He

was a Jew, and when the Nuremberg laws were introduced, things got

incorrigible. They blamed Friedrich for breaking the shop lady's

window, and Hans stood up for him. They made Friedrich carry around an

identification card, and when they were at the swimming pool, they

wouldn't let him change because of it. Friedrich could hardly do

anything freely anymore because of those laws.

At times, Hans would snap. Once, people were going around vandalizing

the houses of Jewish people, and Hans joined them. He knew it was wrong

at the time, but he was given a hammer, and he kept going. He destroyed

the territory of the Jews, just like everyone else. Another time, at a

Jungvolk meeting, Hans just stood there watching while Friedrich took

yet more abuse for his religion.

Friedrich's family was torn apart, one-way or the other. His father was

taken away after losing his job and finding a new one. His mother was

hurt during the ransacking of her apartment, and died soon after. At

one time, they were taken to court because Herr Resch was trying to kick

them out of their own apartment just for his own sake. And Friedrich.

Friedrich was rejected on his entrance to a bomb shelter during a

bombing. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Friedrich died

during the bombing.

Now, that's not the only family that had to endure this inhumane

torture. There were thousands, maybe more. Why was this happening?

Hitler was a crazy man, and when he was in power, people were afraid to

voice their opinions. Maybe they couldn't voice their opinions. I'm

not sure, but I do know that Hitler was a cruel, crazy and unjust man.

He was the most racist man I've ever heard of. He killed people in mass

numbers and ordered destruction! What kind of ruthless savage would do

that to human beings like himself? So what if they had different beliefs

than him, or maybe their skin color was different. We all live on

planet earth, and we're all human! It shouldn't matter whether we are

rich or poor, white or black, Jewish or Catholic. We're all in the same

boat. So please! Remember that we're all alike, in one way or

another. Don't be prejudice. Help each other, on the contrary to

harming each other. Don't be so quick to judge. Please, remember that

we are all people and no one deserves to be treated with such disrespect

and injustice. Don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. If

your government is doing something that you know is wrong and

untruthful, speak up! How do you know that other people don't feel the

same way, and were just afraid to say so? Maybe you'll cause a chain

reaction, and more and more people everywhere will fight for their

beliefs. It's okay to rock the boat sometimes, as long as it's for the

better.

Yours truly,

Polycarp


End file.
